The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1887-08-17

OF MeohtHtlfN pitiletu thfV"t" >'
bridge near the town of Chatsworth. H. ON
the Toledo. Peoria and Western Railway
The list Of dead numbers lis, and of the 300
wounded il Is probable that many will die
The corpse, Of the dead and the persons of
the injured were plundered of money and
jewellery, and this fact gives rise TO the s'is-
pieion that the bridge was purPosely fired
in order TO cause the disaster and furnish
opportunity for the robbery.
INTO THE AWFUL cHAsN.
CB.aAeo. Aug 1.-THE TYnae's special de
spaiches from Forest, H., give the following
description of the calmiiy
All the railway horrors in the history OF
this country were surpassed three miles east
Of Chatsworth last night when an excursion
train on the Toledo, Peoria and Western
Road dropped through burning bridge and
over 100 people were killed and four times
that number were more or less badly injur-
ed. The train was composed of SIX sleeping
cars six day coaches and chair cars and three
baggage cars. II was carrying $50 passen-
gers. all excursionists, and was bound for
Niagara Falls. The train had been made up
all along the line of the Toledo. Peoria and
Western road, and the excursionists hailed
from various points in Central Illinois, the
bulk Of them. however, coming from Peoria.
some of the passengers came from Canton,
III Paso. Washington and. in fact, all stations
along the line some from as far West as
Burlington and Keokuk, la. A special and
cheap rate had been made for the excursion
and all sorts Of people took advantage of il.
When the train drew out of Peoria at
O'Clock last evening il was loaded 10 its
utmost capacity. Every berth in SIX sleepers
was taken. and the day cars carried sixty
people each. The train was 50 heavy that
two engines were hitched TO ii, and when it
passed this place il was an hour and a half
behind time Chatsworth, the next station
East of here is six miles off, and the run
there was made in seven minutes; 80 the
terrible momentum Of those fifteen coaches
and two engines shooting through space at
the rate of a mile minute can be under
stood. No stop was made at Chatsworth,
and on and on the heavy train, with its liv-
ing freight. sped through the darkness ofthe
the night
Three miles East Of Chatsworth Is little
slough. where the railroad crosses a dry run
about ten feet deep and fifteen feet wide
Over this was stretched an ordinary wooden
trestie bridge. and as the excursion train
came laundering down on il what was the
horror OF the engineer on the front engine
when he saw that the bridge was a-ire.
Right up before his eyes leaped the bright
flames, and the next instant he was among
them There was no chance to stop. Had
there been warning it would have taken a
half mile to stop that on rushing mass of
wood, iron and human lives, and the train
was within 100 yards OF the resi-tongued
messengers of death before they flashed their
fatal signals into the engineers face But
he passed over in safety, the bridge fell be
meath it, and it could only have been the ter
rife speed of the train which saved the lives
of the engineer and his fireman.
FORTY PEOPLE INSTANTLY KILLED.
stantly the deed was done. Carcrashed into
car coaches piled ON top of one another, and
in the twinkling of an eye nearly forty peo-
pie found instant death and fifty more were
50 hurt they could not live As for the
wounded. they were everywhere. Only the
sleeping coaches escaped, and as the startled
and half-dressed passengers came tumbing
/ out of them they found such a scene ofdeath
( as is rarely witnessed and such work to do
/ that il seemed as ii human hands were utter
/ lv incapable II lacked but FIVE minutes of
midnight Down in the ditch lay the second
/ engineer, McClintock, dead. and Fireman
! Applegate badly Injured. On top were piled
the three baggage cars, one on top of anoth-
/ er like a childs card house after he had
Z swept it with his hand Then came the six
day coaches. They were telescoped as cars
never were before. and three of them were
( pressed into just enough space for one. The
I second car had mounted off its trucks crash
/ ed through the car ahead of il. crushing
resting on the tops of the seats, while every
passenger in the front car was lying dead
and dying underneath. Out ofthat car but
four came alive. On top of the second
ear lay the third, and its bottom was
[ smesired with the blood of its victims.
The three other cars were not 50 badly
crushed, but they were broken and twisted
m every conceivable way and every crushed
timber and beam represented crushed hui
man frame and broken bone. Instantly
the air was filed with cries of the wounded
and the shrieks of those about to die. The
groans of men and the screams Of women
united to make an appalling sound and
above all could be heard the agonizing cries
of little children, as in some instances they
lay pinned alongside their dead parents
And there was another terrible danger yet
10 be met The bridge was still burning and
the wrecked cars were lying on and around
the teroely burning embcrs. Everywhere
in the wreck were wounded and unhurt men
women and children, whose lives could be
saved if they could be gotten out. but whose
death. and death in most horrid form, WAS
certain if the twisted wood ofthe broken cars
caught fire And to fight the fire there was
not a drop OF water and only some fifty able
bodied men who still had presence of mind
and nerve enough TO do their duty The
only light was the light of the burning
bridge And with 80 much of its aid the
fifty men went TO work TO fight the flames.
For four hours they fought like hends, and
for four hours the victory hung in the bal
ance.
FIGHTING THE FIRE WITH EARTH.
Earth was the only weapon with which
the foe could be fought, and So the attempt
was made TO smother it cut. There was no
pick or shovel to dig il up; no baskets or bar
rows 10 carry it. and so desperate were they
that they dug their fingers down into the
earth. which a long drouth had baked almost
as hard as stone and heaped the precious
ing flames. and with this earthwork, built
handful by handful. kept back the foe
While this was going on other brave men
crept underneath the wrecked cars, beneath
the fire and the wooden beams which held
as prisoners so many precious lives, and
with pieces Of board and sometimes their
hands beat back the flames when they fash
, ed up alongside some unfortunate wretch
on helplessly while ii seemed as if his death
J by fire was certain and while the fight was
, thus going on the ears of the workers were